Hybrid fuel and method of making the same

Abstract

A hybrid fuel and methods of making the same. A process for making a hybrid fuel includes the steps of combining a biofuel emulsion blend and a liquid fuel product to form a hybrid fuel. Optionally, the hybrid fuel can be combined with water in a water-in-oil process and include oxygenate additives and additive packages. A hybrid fuel includes blends of biofuel emulsions and liquid fuel products, including light gas diesel. Optionally, the hybrid fuel can include water, oxygenate additives, and other additive packages.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14 / 215,688, filed. Mar. 17, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,567,542, issued Feb. 14, 2017, which claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 794,115, filed Mar. 15, 2013, which are hereby incorporated in their entirety herein by reference.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]This invention generally relates to the formulation and production of hybrid fuels, and, more specifically, to techniques for the production of liquid fuels, including mineral-, plant-, and animal-based hydrocarbons.BACKGROUND[0003]Transportable liquids are important commodities for fuel and chemical use. Currently, liquid hydrocarbons are mostly frequently produced from crude oil-based feedstocks by a variety of processes. However, as the world supplies of crude oil feedstocks decrease, there is a growing need to find alternative sources of liquid energy products. Possible alternate sources include b...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a process for converting light gases into liquids using non-thermal plasma. The process results in a cleaner burning fuel with lower emissions of greenhouse gases and small particle smoke. The process also increases the electron flow and density, resulting in faster transfer of incoming gases into liquid fuel. The process forms free-radicals which react with a liquid fuel feed to produce shorter chain molecules. This reduces the concentration of polynuclear aromatics and total aromatics in the fuel. The processes disclosed herein result in a hybrid fuel that is relatively cleaner burning and has lower viscosity and pour points. A reduction in the concentration of polyanuclear aromatics can be at least two-fold, three-fold, five-fold, or ten-fold relative to conventional processes. The process forms Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters and glycerol, which can be further processed to create products with lower viscosity and pour points.

Problems solved by technology

Because of the problems associated with transportation of large volumes of natural gas, most of the natural gas produced along with oil, particularly at remote places, is flared and wasted.

Such processes are very energy intensive.

Existing proposals for the conversion of light gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, as well as biofuels, to liquid fuels suffer from a variety of problems that have limited their commercial potential.

Oxidative coupling methods generally involve highly exothermic and potentially hazardous methane combustion reactions, frequently require expensive oxygen generation facilities, and produce large quantities of environmentally sensitive carbon oxides.

On the other hand, existing reductive coupling techniques frequently have low selectivity to aromatics and may require expensive co-feeds to improve conversion and / or aromatics selectivity.

Since natural gas fields are frequently at remote locations, effective hydrogen utilization can present a substantial challenge.

Moreover, polynuclear aromatics have a tendency to produce fine particulates when they are combusted, leading to further environmental concerns.

However, the reducing of polynuclear aromatic compounds is difficult with existing refining processes because of the variety, technical difficulty and expense of the different reaction pathways required for reduction of polynuclear aromatic compounds.

A particular difficulty in using natural gas as a liquid hydrocarbon source concerns the fact that many natural gas fields around the world contain large quantities, sometimes in excess of 50%, of carbon dioxide.

In addition, any process that requires separation and disposal of large quantities of carbon dioxide from natural gas is likely to be economically prohibitive.

In fact, some natural gas fields have such high carbon dioxide levels as to be currently considered economically unrecoverable.

This is a costly process, and there are known technical issues with utilizing the Biodiesel, particularly as B100, in existing installations.

There are also large reserves of heavy oil / bitumen that cannot be readily used.

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